Background

The Serralves Foundation’s 2008 exhibition marking the 100th birthday of Manoel de Oliveira was the starting point for signature, on April 20, 2009, of a protocol between the Foundation and the filmmaker. This document formalised the deposit of the extraordinary set of documentation collected by Oliveira over more than eighty years and defined the general guidelines for setting up the Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira. The architect Álvaro Siza was invited to design a new building within the Foundation’s spaces and António Preto was asked to draw up the museum programme. The project was presented to the public on November 15, 2013, when a second protocol was signed, establishing the objectives, operation and structure of the Casa do Cinema, as well as its insertion within the Foundation’s organisational structure. Construction of the building and preparation of the opening programme began in January 2018.

The Casa de Cinema Manoel de Oliveira was inaugurated on June 24, 2019.